When the Verizon nationwide outage struck earlier this year, millions of mobile users across the country were abruptly cut off from their primary, if not only, means of communication. For many, this was an inconvenience. For commercial real estate (CRE) owners, operators, and property managers, it should serve as a sobering warning of the life safety, operational, and legal implications of a widespread communication system breakdown.
Notices from emergency agencies made the gravity clear. Numerous governmental emergency systems issued warnings that Verizon users could not contact 911, urging them instead to use other carriers, landlines, or even go physically to a police or fire station. Others issued similar alerts, noting difficulties placing emergency calls and instructing residents to rely on Wi Fi calling or alternate carriers.
For CRE professionals responsible for buildings occupied by tenants, residents, and employees, the outage was more than a communications failure – it exposed a systemic vulnerability in emergency response, life safety compliance, business continuity, and legal risk management. And the next outage, whether telecommunications based, cloud based, power based, or cyber induced, is not a matter of if, but when.
Communication Outages Adversely Impact CRE
Communication outages strike at the heart of CRE operational risk, particularly in dense, multi tenant environments where safety obligations are heightened. The Verizon incident revealed several critical factors that CRE owners need to consider:
911 May Not Be Reachable
Emergency alerts confirmed that a large subset of tenants simply could not reach 911, even though devices displayed “SOS” mode. For CRE buildings, this dramatically increases exposure: a medical crisis, fire, or security incident becomes exponentially more dangerous when emergency services cannot be contacted.
Critical Systems Assume Connectivity
Elevator emergency phones, access control systems, remote monitoring, building automation systems, fire panel communicators, and security consoles increasingly rely on wireless networks or IP pathways. If these pathways fail without redundancy, life safety compliance can be jeopardized.
Liability Risks Expands During “Predictable” System Failures
CRE operators are held to a standard of reasonable preparedness. As routine communication failures occur more frequently, they are now arguably foreseeable. To reduce liability risks, CRE teams must conduct risk assessments, maintain functional life safety systems, and prepare for telecom failure scenarios. Failures to do so can be construed as negligence.
Key Actions to Implement Now
- Build Communication Redundancy: Ensure alternative channels (landlines, Wi Fi calling, multi carrier devices, two way radios, satellite phones) are available for both staff and occupants.
- Strengthen Life Safety Systems for Outage Resilience: Upgrade elevator phones, fire panel communicators, and access systems with dual path or failover connectivity, where standby equipment automatically goes into effect, so that service remains operational when wireless networks fail.
- Deploy Multi Channel Emergency Notifications: Use multiple modes – text, email, app alerts, PA systems, signage – to ensure critical messages reach tenants even when one channel is down.
- Provide Clear 911 and Emergency Guidance: Issue advance communications about alternative ways to reach emergency services (e.g., other carriers, landlines, onsite help points, in person contact with first responders).
- Conduct Regular Outage Focused Drills: Simulate telecom failures, practice manual procedures, and test whether staff and occupants know backup methods.
- Maintain Updated Business Continuity & Emergency Plans: Document and frequently update outage scenarios, responsibilities, failover steps.
- Train Staff on Manual Operations: Ensure teams can handle lockouts, emergency events, and tenant inquiries without digital tools or mobile networks.
- Partner with Emergency Management Agencies: Enroll in local alert systems, coordinate with public safety officials, and maintain direct relationships with PSAPs for faster situational awareness.
- Educate Tenants on Personal Preparedness: Encourage multi carrier households, external battery backups, Wi Fi calling setup, and awareness of alternative emergency contact methods.
Legal Risk Landscape: Consequences of Inaction and Pitfalls to Manage When Acting
For CRE professionals, communication system failures are no longer hypothetical – they are foreseeable operational and life safety threats. Failing to prepare exposes owners and operators to a wide spectrum of legal, financial, and reputational risks. At the same time, taking corrective action requires navigating its own set of legal considerations. The combined risk picture is clear: you are liable if you do nothing, and potentially exposed if you act without proper contractual and compliance safeguards.
The Risks of Failing to Act
Ignoring the vulnerability exposed by outages – particularly outages that impair 911 access – creates meaningful exposure. Courts increasingly view communication continuity as a core element of building safety. If tenants or employees cannot reach emergency services during an outage, CRE owners and operators may face claims of negligence, wrongful death, or breach of habitability. Failures in elevator phones, fire panel communicators, access control systems, and alarm signaling can also trigger building code violations, fines, insurance coverage disputes, and regulatory scrutiny.
In addition, a lack of documented preparedness – such as an absence of outage response protocols, redundancy measures, or training records – can undermine owners’ defenses in litigation. Regulators, plaintiffs, and insurers now expect CRE operators to anticipate and mitigate communication outages just as they would any other critical life safety risk.
The Risks When Implementing Preparedness Measures
Even well intentioned actions can create legal traps if executed without an eye towards risk management. Deploying redundant communications, mass notification platforms, or new connectivity systems typically requires third party vendors – and vendor contracts often shift risk back onto the property owner unless carefully negotiated. Poorly drafted agreements may lack enforceable service level obligations, fail to provide indemnity for service failures, or give vendors overly broad rights to use tenant or resident data.
CRE professionals must also review these contracts for privacy and regulatory compliance. Emergency communication tools often involve sensitive resident data; misuse, over collection, or insufficient security can create liability under privacy laws. Likewise, upgrades to radio systems, elevator phones, or safety signal pathways may require fire marshal approvals, inspections, or compliance with Emergency Responder Radio Coverage Systems, building code, or FCC related requirements.
Contracts with providers of backup wireless systems, satellite services, POTS (i.e., Plain Old Telephone Service) replacement solutions, or mass notification platforms should include:
- Strong service level agreements (SLAs) with uptime, failover, and performance guarantees.
- Vendor indemnifications covering losses from service interruptions, equipment failures, or non compliance.
- Clear data handling and privacy protections, including limits on data use, retention, and sharing.
- Audit and reporting rights, ensuring transparency in system performance.
- Termination and transition provisions allowing CRE operators to replace non performing vendors without operational disruption.
Operationally, owners and managers should maintain updated emergency plans, conduct outage response drills, document system tests, and ensure tenant communications are accurate and consistent. These actions not only enhance safety and resiliency – they establish the due diligence record needed to reduce litigation exposure. It is critical that CRE professionals document that they maintain and routinely update their emergency plans and log the training drills they conduct, and that they consistently coordinate with emergency management agencies.
The Verizon outage demonstrated a profound operational and legal vulnerability across the CRE industry: the assumption of always available communications. As CRE assets become more technologically integrated and dependent, system outages – whether cellular, cloud, cyber, or power related – pose rising risks to tenant safety, business continuity, and legal exposure.
CRE professionals must treat communication redundancy as a core life safety imperative, not an optional operational enhancement. Those who prepare now will not only reduce liability – they will enhance tenant trust, build operational resilience, and protect the value of their CRE assets in an increasingly volatile risk environment.
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